This invention relates to a disc brake and, more particularly, to a floating caliper type disc brake which includes a caliper adapted to be slidably mounted on a stationary carrier and consisting of opposing leg portions and a bridge portion which straddles the outer circumference of a rotatable disc and connects the leg portions, and a pair of friction pads disposed on opposite sides of the disc and mounted slidably on the carrier.
Usually, a disc brake of this kind is mounted on a vehicle by securing the carrier to a non-rotatable part of a vehicle such as a knuckle member by utilizing a pair of bolts or the like with the caliper and friction pads being assembled with the carrier beforehand. However, for reducing the weight of the vehicle and for minimizing the number of parts, it has been proposed to form the carrier integrally with the knuckle member of the vehicle and to mount thereon an assembly consisting of the caliper and friction pads, and which is usually called a direct mounting type disc brake.
There is a problem in the direct mounting type disc brake that the parts such as the caliper, friction pads, pad spring and the like are produced by respective specialized parts makers and delivered to a car maker wherein the assembling operation is performed by the car maker. This is troublesome and time consuming, thereby decreasing the productivity and complicating the controlling of parts.